Category: Restaurant review

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Restaurant review

The Gallery, Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, London

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This restaurant is quite modest in terms of décor, with its unvarnished tables and plain wooden floor, which in Fortnum and Mason terms is definitely understated. I have seen this listed as a low cost restaurant, but I couldn’t say that I agree with that description.  I suspect that you could get away with £25 per person if you were to choose the absolute cheapest starter and main course, but you couldn’t have a dessert or wine and you could certainly not drink tea.  I noticed that tea was £8 and while I have no doubt that it is lovely tea and will come in a pretty teapot, it is hardly economical.

However, the restaurant is attractive with a view over Jermyn Street out through the window and a view over the sweet displays when you look in towards the shop. Everything is very high quality, as you would expect; pretty menu, nice napkins, good cutlery and crockery. The service is excellent.

The food is lovely too, the ingredients are top notch and each dish is beautifully prepared and presented. The beef was perfectly cooked and the gravy was rich and indulgent. So, although this is not somewhere to go if you are on a tight budget, it does serve a great lunch and I recommend it if you feel like a treat.

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Restaurant review

Jackson & Rye, Wardour Street, Soho, London

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This restaurant looks fantastic. When you step inside from the hectic lunchtime crowds on Wardour Street, it feels like you have walked into a vintage upscale diner in Midtown, New York. It has dark wood, leatherette banquettes, soft lighting and brass rails. The menu is high end American comfort food too – there is lots to choose from. The a-la-carte is relatively expensive, I guess we are right in the heart of Soho, but it has lunch and brunch special menus that look very good value.

The salt and pepper squid was great as a starter. We also had tomato soup which came lukewarm, but was delicious after we had it reheated. The hamburgers and fries were really good too – meaty and well cooked.

The cocktails were a bit more mixed in quality, the whiskey sour was not sour enough for me but the margarita was good and the martini excellent. It is a shame that they had no bottled beers that we had ever heard of on the menu and that the only draft beer was unfiltered.

The service was good and although we lingered over lunch, we were never rushed. All four of us enjoyed our lunch in Jackson & Rye and I would happily return.

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Restaurant review

McQueen, Shoreditch, London

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4 of us came here for dinner. We met in the bar first. The room is good, it feels light, bright and spacious. The music is a bit irritating, surely “café del mar” chill-out is past its sell-by date now, but at least it is not loud enough to disturb the conversation. The sofas are nice and the chairs comfortable.

The restaurant is designed in much the same manner as the bar – with big brown distressed leather chesterfields and smaller chairs opposite. We ate from the set menu, the starters were good – the smoked salmon was with a grapefruit salad, which suited it well. The mains were steak; lovely with nice jus and great chips, lamb: nicely cooked with mashed potato and green veg, cod which was also reportedly very good and a risotto that we didn’t try. Between us we tried the house red, white and rose – all were very nice.

They mention on their page on Time Out London that they do a bottomless brunch, and although I haven’t been able to find any details, it would suit the place very well. I can easily imagine reading the weekend papers in here with a giant cup of coffee or Bloody Mary, nursing a hangover…….

The service was very good. I liked all the old Steve McQueen posters around the place.I’d recommend it as somewhere to meet friends especially in the daylight when all the windows make the place so bright and airy.

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Restaurant review

Hawksmoor, Air Street, London

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Hawksmoor was a talented architect of the 17th and 18th century; probably not somebody I would choose to name a restaurant after, given the manner of his death.

However, the food here is high quality and well prepared. We all had steaks and they were all excellent. The set cuts on the menu seemed large (400g – the rib eye) but when I said this to the waiter, she offered us smaller sizes – or larger ones if we wished to share. The chips were delicious as was the spinach.

The wine list is comprehensive and the bottle we chose was very good.

The décor is low key, art deco. The restaurant is cleverly laid out because the surprisingly large room still manages to feel quite intimate. The service was perfect; always nearby but never obtrusive.

It is quite expensive, even for London, but the experience was distinctive, right from going through the door and it does deliver value for money.

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Restaurant review

Joanna’s, Crystal Palace, London

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This is a great place for a smart leisurely brunch.

Joanna’s is an institution in Crystal Palace. Since the 1970s, everyone local knows that it  is good for an evening meal, but fewer people realise that it opens at 10am to serve brunch. The full English is high quality and their smoked salmon and scrambled eggs are lovely, my personal favourite is the poached egg and Canadian bacon served on an English muffin. The tables near the window have a beautiful view over the city of London, which looks particularly good on a cold sunny morning.

It isn’t quite caff prices – but it has lots of papers, great coffee and you are never rushed.

A lovely weekend treat.

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Restaurant review

Tuttons, Covent Garden, London

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Tuttons is not cheap, the hamburger is £18 and the steaks in the high twenties.

As starters, the chicken liver pate was indulgent, the scallops had great texture and the oysters were very good. The hamburger was nice. The corned beef hash was light on the corned beef. The chips were delicious, not healthy (cooked in real fat, I’d guess) but who orders chips to be healthy?

We also had desserts and these were good, the raspberry cheesecake was unlike any cheesecake I’ve ever had but was great nonetheless.

Its position on the corner of Russell Street and Covent Garden Piazza could not be better, it is straight across from the Royal Opera House and close to many theatres.

The décor is classic, it has a pleasant atmosphere in which to eat. It even has seats outside for those hardy enough to brave the weather and the crowds!

The service was fine. The wine list had lots of choice, even by the glass.

I recommend it, especially if you have a tastecard, which gives 50% off food and makes it good value.

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Restaurant review

Les Deux Salons, William IV Street

lds_top_home6We ate in the Bistro. The décor is authentically French. It is perfectly positioned for eating before the theatre as there are many within a 3 minute walk. We ordered 4 different dishes. The steak was not great and we sent it back, they accepted this with good grace and replaced it with our choice of chicken liver parfait – which was delicious. The nicoise salad, not having lettuce, anchovy or green beans, was unlike any that I have had before – but it was very nice. The salmon was good. The wine list is good and the quality of the wines by the glass is very good.

I loved the chandelier!

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Restaurant review

Brasserie Vacherin, Croydon

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A table for two with crisp white linen. An aperitif while reading the menu. A flavourful starter. A main course and side made with good quality ingredients accompanied by a nice bottle of wine. An indulgent dessert. A digestif with coffee. An attentive but unobtrusive waiter. Good conversation with sophisticated soul and jazz playing gently in the background.

A complete night out.

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Restaurant review

Miles better pies, Te Anu, South Island, New Zealand

The quality and choice of pies in this shop is excellent. They are fresh home made and have lots of filling. We had the lamb mince and cheese, and the vegetable both of us agreed they were the best pies we’d had in ages. The perfect reward for finishing the Kepler Trail!Be aware though, that the milk shakes are made with milk and a fruit syrup, so not as thick as you might expect if you are used to them made with fresh fruit.

However, it is a pie shop and the pies are spectacular!

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Restaurant review

Criniti’s, Manly Beach, Sydney, New South Wales

Two of us ate here for lunch on a sunny Sunday lunchtime before doing the scenic walk from Manly to Spit Bridge. We both ordered pizza which were large and tasty. The quality of the ingredients was good. The restaurant was busy, the service was still pretty good. We enjoyed it, we would recommend the walk too!